Warning
Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

Snowy Lochnagar

Date walked: 31/03/2013

Time taken: 7.5 hours

Distance: 17 km

Ascent: 904m

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On the Saturday we had a great walk around Ballochbuie Forest in the Balmoral Estate, enjoying excellent views across to snowy Lochnagar under blue skies, so we decided that if the weather was equally good the following day, we would continue with the Balmoral theme and walk up the said hill.

Sunday came, and the skies were blue again, so we headed out for the Spittal of Glenmuick (a little later than planned, as one of us had forgotten that the clocks went forward the night before...! )The car park at the Spittal was already almost full, and we were lucky to get a space.

We headed up the icy track from the car park, across the base of Glen Muick and into the forest, following the helpful sign 'Lochnagar Path', up through the trees then out into the open hillside. By now the sky was grey - hardly any blue sky to be seen, which was a bit disappointing considering the promising start to the day. Cloudy by GariochT, on Flickr

Up the track, we shortly had to cross the Allt na Giubhsaich and as usual I paddled across rather than hopping on stepping stones.Ford by GariochT, on Flickr

A nervous skiier descended past us, frequently stopping as the slope was a bit too steep and slippery for his liking.

Eventually we reached the turn off to the left, initially descending before starting the main ascent. The combination of grey light and white snow meant that the edges of the snowy banks were very difficult to see, which was slightly disconcerting.

The ascent was quite slow-going in the snow. Near the foot of Meikle Pap a few ptarmigans flew past us before landing on the eastern slopes of that hill. Leaving the track, we approached them and I blindly pointed and clicked my camera towards them (why did I choose a camera without a viewfinder...?). I was pleased with the results!

We then headed back to the track and then slowly up to the bealach, catching up with a couple of other walkers. The buttresses of Lochnagar looked very impressive, caked in snow.

After a short rest we started to ascend the steeper slopes towards the plateau - slow progress again, but eventually we reached the top of the corrie. We gingerly walked a bit closer to the edge of the corrie to have an elevenses stop, then continued skirting around the corrie on much easier ground, frequently stopping to take photographs...

After taking more photographs from the top we found a good sheltered lunch spot, looking across to the central Cairngorms. Through binoculars we could see the corries of Cairn Toul above the plunging depths of the Lairig Ghru, the tors on Ben Avon, and of course plenty of other mountains too.

The descent back to the car didn't take long, although I did delay things a bit by deciding to put my crampons on for the slightly slippery compacted path - they really weren't necessary but I do want to get my money's worth from them...

Great to see so many ptarmigan together at once, all I ever seen is just a pair. I have always thought about taking a small sledge up with me on my snowy trips up, especially as Trespass have rucksack friendly ones on sale just now! Might also save me from wearing out my rainproof bottoms. Great Phots!

Nice report and beautiful pics - makes me ache to be up there in those conditions. You seem to have almost had the hill to yourself - so many walkers don't know what they're missing by not walking in winter. I really need to get my wife to do a winter hill - but she's nervous about slipping and feels the cold. She gets twitchy if I even get my crampons out to look at them.